Electric vehicle (EV) sales continue to help big car companies bounce back after lockdown

Volvo Cars have reported the best half-year results in terms of sales and operating profit in its 94-year history amid increasing demand for its cars across all regions. A big part of this down to the growth of plug-in and battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

This appears to be the trend across many of the big carmakers as more customers switch to zero-emission driving. For example, Volkswagen doubled the number of electric car deliveries in the first half of this year. Renault Group saw electrified car sales up 149 percent in Europe and BEVs account for around a third of MG’s sales in 2021.

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Volvo Cars achieved a revenue of 141 billion SEK (Swedish Krona), up 26 percent, driven by strong demand and positive mix effects. Operating income was 13 billion SEK in the first six months of 2021, representing an operating margin of 9.4 per cent. Sales volumes rebounded 41 percent compared with the pandemic-affected period in 2020.

Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo Cars chief executive, said: “The company continued to grow strongly despite the industry-wide semiconductor shortage, but more importantly, we demonstrated that we are a leader of the ongoing transformation in the automotive industry,”

Volvo Cars aim to become the fastest-transforming company in the sector and to be fully electric by 2030. The appeal of Volvo’s electric cars was demonstrated in the first half of the year by the demand for its Recharge models.

Sales of both its fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars grew significantly, now making up 25 percent of the global volume. This is the highest electrification share as a proportion of total sales among traditional carmakers.

As part of the move towards full electrification, Volvo Cars launched its second fully electric model, the C40 Recharge. At the same time, the company firmed up its strategy of online sales to meet changing consumer behaviour.  From now on, all fully electric models will be available exclusively through volvocars.com,

Securing sustainable batteries is key for Volvo Cars’ transformation. The company is planning to join forces with Northvolt as a strategic partner for joint development and manufacturing of next-generation battery cells.

To ensure focus on electrification, Volvo Cars is carving out its internal combustion engine operations into a new unit, Aurobay, in which Geely Holding will be the main shareholder.

Samuelsson added: “Volvo Cars has a decade-long track record of successful transformation. The car industry is changing more than ever, and we have a strong determination to be the fastest transformer.”

Ian Osborne
Ian Osborne
Editor-in-Chief at ElectricDrives

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